The Life Left Behind
by shamrock920
Summary: Part V and last of series. Jack and Riddick have run away and reflect on short memories from before.


**The Life Left Behind**

Riddick started up the ship's engines as Jack organized her stuff in what would be their room. He smirked slightly as he thought of the many sleepless nights in space that waited for them. Shaking his head, he was relieved to see that they received the permission to leave the port.

"Jack!" He called and she came jogging into the control room. "Strap in, buckle up, we're outta here."

"Aye aye mon capitan," she put on a terrible French accent as she sat down in the co-pilot's seat, tightening the buckled straps.

His inner beast smelled and felt how tired Jack was and Riddick shifted slightly in his seat to get a better view of her face. Her eyes were already clouding over and she had just sat down and her breathing was evening out, as if she were getting ready to fall asleep. Putting her aside for a minute, Riddick pulled the ship out of the lot and onto the runway. Slowly pulling back the lever for the engine strength, the ship sped up and he pulled up on the steering control. Soon they rumbled through the planet's atmosphere and as the ship burst into the darkness of space, Riddick set a course. Finishing up, he glanced at Jack and was surprised to see her fast asleep.

He shook his head. Who knew that she could fall asleep during a take off? He released the buckles on the seat belts and stood up, leaning over Jack and doing the same. Scooping her up in his arms, he walked into the bedroom and laid her down on the mattress. He made quick work of her boots before tossing a blanket over her thin form and walking out of the room and back into the control room.

Riddick sat down in the pilot's chair and glared out into space, as if it were one of the more offensive things in his life.

_He growled at the green numbers mockingly glowing at him. 11:55. Five minutes, she has to be in five minutes. Standing up from the couch, he stared at the door, as if willing to open it and she'd be standing there. He figured that while he was imagining things, she would walk right in, say that Tyler was a failure and then knock him clean to the floor, kissing him. _

_What the hell was so cool about that punk anyway? He was shrimpy, a wimp, barely could stand his own ground and if they were just 'friends' then why was he looking at Jack like a piece of meat? _

_11:58. _

_Two minutes. That would be two minutes too long, he thought. And so what if this kid had a car? He had a ship! And if he ever wanted a car he could hijack some asshole who is swimming, sleeping and breathing cash anyway. Was this Jack trying to send him a message? Purposely make him jealous to the point where he'd have to confront her? Now wouldn't that be something, Jack going through all this just to get him to show his feelings to her. _

_While Jack was a bit of a hardass, she could still be very shy about what she felt deeper, not just on the surface. The surface that Conner saw. Another fucktard that he wished he could get rid of. When Jack had stopped talking about Conner he figured the boy backed off after being beat up one too many times. Clearly, he hadn't. Was Jack afraid of him actually going to hurt the guy? Well, she should be, because he would do it. _

_12:02. _

_Two minutes too late. _

_And in two seconds he was out the door, letting it lock behind him. He quickly ran down the stairs and out into the night air, inhaling it deeply. There. Jack's scent. Barely there but he could still smell it. _

_He stuck to the shadows, following the smell that was mixed with leather. Leather? He bet the interior of the Tyler's car. He kept following it, hoping that her individual scent would break from the car's but he was lead to the car itself. Empty. Parked in a parking lot. It was a gated lot and he didn't bother going in, he knew all he needed from the smell. _

_Where now?_

_He slowly turned around and with each second that passed, one more link in the chain that restrained his beast clicked past. There it was. With a growl he began to run, he could smell her strongly now but then something else was mixed with it. Fear. She was afraid, something was happening to her. The growl raised into a snarl as he took out his shiv, zeroing in on the exact spot where she was. Something split the night air that would haunt him for the rest of his life. _

_"RIDDICK!" _

_It was her voice, hoarse with yelling, panic and fear clear as day. It was her voice that broke the chain. _

_He ran into the alley releasing an inhuman roar that made her attacker stop dead in his tracks. In the darkness he clearly saw Jack fall to the ground, her arms restrained tightly and her body bruised and weak. _

_The rest was mostly a blur. He remembered taking the man's arms and snapping them like twigs, shattering his kneecaps, collarbones and sternum. His shiv slicing through the man's stomach, the flesh easily giving way to the blade and finally snapping his neck. _

_His vision cleared and his beast finished its fury, but it was replaced by mourning concern when Jack's form lay unmoving on the ground. There was a heartbeat, but it was faint. Yet he was rewarded by her nuzzling against him, whimpering softly and he had growled in return, securing her safely in his grip. _

Jack stepped into the control room, her bare feet making no noise against the floor as she walked towards Riddick, who looked to be sleeping, but she knew better. He didn't sleep, especially when she was sleeping. When she was younger he had told her that one of them should always be awake in case something happened, so that was why he didn't sleep at night. But now, now that they were more then traveling companions, she knew he didn't sleep so he could protect her, watch over his…mate?

She smirked, Riddick would never call her his "girlfriend". She was his mate, that was for sure, he would never let her be with someone else and as she moved her gaze over him, she realized that she would never want to be with someone else. It was Riddick or no one.

"Sleep well?" He asked, making her jerk out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, I guess I'm still sorta tired." She responded and didn't realize she was rubbing her scarred wrists until Riddick's silver penetrating glare rested on them.

"C'here," he said, moving his chair to face her. She walked to him and let herself be pulled down into his lap, his arms wrapping snugly around her.

As she leaned back against him, she looked out at the stars and watched them float by, concentrating on one particular one until it went out of her line of vision. Jack breathed out in a content growl as Riddick slipped a warm hand up her shirt, his thumb gently rubbing the smooth skin. Resting her head on his shoulder, she kissed his jaw and then snuggled her head beneath his chin, her arms resting over his.

"So where are we going?" She asked quietly, closing her eyes.

"Depends. I have one course set, but we can change it." He replied, making Jack purr at the warm rumble that was his voice.

"But _where_ are we going?" Jack insisted.

"Surprise." He responded smoothly, making her sit up and glare at him.

"I don't really like surprises, Riddick." She replied, settling back against his chest.

"I know, but you won't regret not knowing this in advance. It will be a…welcomed surprise." He reasoned, totally unprepared as Jack suddenly twisted in his grip and kissed him hard and long. She was laughing when they broke apart, speaking between pants.

"Yeah, guess not all surprises are bad?" She asked, her breath still uneven. With a humored growl, he pulled her neck down and kissed her.

At first a hard kiss, worthy of a few lines in a scene, but it lengthened out into a passionate play as Jack moved her body up his legs, finally pressing closely to his, her neck arching down to continue the kiss. Riddick explored her body with his hands, taking care to memorize every inch of her perfect figure. They both knew they wanted more.

It had only taken him a few seconds to realize that Jack had an inner beast as well, but it wasn't a killer like his. It was the intelligent yet passionate animal that seduced him faster then he realized possible. And now as Jack lay resting, he knew that even with her eyes closed, she wasn't sleeping.

_"Hey…Jackie…" Riddick greeted her as she slammed the door of the apartment shut and stormed right into their room, slamming that door shut as well. Walking from the kitchen, he headed straight to their room, opening the door and closing it behind him, glancing up not to see Jack but to hear her quietly sniffing. _

_That was all it took for his beast to shake itself awake and growl. Someone had hurt their Jack. Someone was going to have their ass kicked. _

_"Jack?" Riddick called up, knowing that she wouldn't want to be seen if upset. He never understood females, but it wasn't going to try, especially now. _

_"Hey big guy," she replied, her voice cracked slightly. To his relief, she quickly understood his reluctance to go up to her and responded by appearing herself. Her eyes were bloodshot, but it was to her hands that gripped the sides of the loft that his eyes rested on. Bloody. _

_"Jack. What happened?" He asked, still not coming up. Intruding on personal space was a bad idea at this point. _

_"Riddick, I swear I didn't start this one, they came up to me and grabbed me from behind and dragged me to the guy's bathroom. They locked the door, I knew I shouldn't have done it, but they were saying stuff and I really freaked out," her voice was cracking and she was reliving the fear. "One of them went for my shirt and I just punched him straight in the face and all the others advanced, angry what I had done. I didn't mean to, I was upset and I started to hear them."_

_That last phrase caught him. She started to hear the aliens from the hell planet. It happened when she was awake sometimes, if she got terrified she would hear them and if it got worse, she would start seeing shadows as them coming to get her. When this happened, she lashed out in an unimaginable way. He had seen her take down five ex-convicts in less then five minutes once because she was scared that he had died. _

_"What happened after that?" He asked softly, but Jack had jumped off the loft and stumbled into him, hugging him tightly. _

_"A few teachers found me crying, with my skirt and shirt torn. None of the guys were seriously injured, but they had known what happened anyway. I went to the principle's office, who told me that the guys would be in serious trouble and that he was glad nothing had happened to me. No fault on my part but I was still upset. He let me go after that." She finished, her voice a little more even now. _

_He had held her standing like that, knowing that by just being there he was calming her down. The sniffing had long since stopped and she just held onto him like he was her lifeline. Soon she let him break away, but followed him as he got a washcloth and small bowl of warm water. He was extremely meticulous as he washed her hands, gentle where the skin had broken and efficient where it just had to cleaned. _

_He wrapped her hands and she went to change into something more comfortable. It didn't surprise him when she came back into their living room and lay down on the couch where he was sitting. She had laid her head on his lap and after draping a blanket over her, he threaded his hands through her hair and massaged her scalp. _

_His beast was wide-awake though, on patrol and watching Jack. But she was safe here, protected by him. Safety in the embrace of the most feared convict in the known universe._

She shifted slightly as she opened her eyes, instantly treasuring the feeling of Riddick behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist and his warm breath hitting her bare shoulder. All she could hear, smell, feel, see and even taste was Riddick. This was her heaven and she never wanted to leave it.

"Sleep well, Jack?" He asked.

"Better than I ever remembered. You?" She replied, bringing up one of his hands to her mouth, kissing the palm of his hand, moving her mouth to do the same to his knuckles.

"About the same as you, first time I've ever woken up to the most beautiful woman in the world though." He added, making Jack blush and turn around to face him.

"And what should I say in return to that? This is the first time I've ever: a) woken up next to the man of my dreams, b) next to the Greek god that is the most dangerous man in the world and c) woken up feeling the safest I've ever felt. Take your pick." She grinned at him as he rolled on top of her, kissing her gently before moving down, kissing her collarbone.

"Think I'll take all of 'em." He finally replied, looking down at her. In his opinion, she was indeed the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. So it was no wonder that he couldn't get enough of her.

"Greedy," she purred, sliding one hand down his arm that held him up and her foot down his calf. Just when he least expected it, she pushed at his shoulder and pulled his leg under, flipping their positions.

"Full of surprises, Jack." He said, watching her naked body arch back so she could put up her hair. Her mouth was parted slightly, her lips glistening and the barely audible growl she made he felt through her.

He couldn't take much more of this.

But Jack's eyes flashed open and seemed to know exactly what he had thought. She lay on top of him, kissing him as if there was no tomorrow. There was no desperation, just the need to be close.

**Bad ending, I know, but it will continue. **

**Thanks to these reviewers:**

**TRO – So we think. Thanks for reviewing. **

**njrd – Sorry about the late update, but hope you liked it still. But it's a story that I could keep going with, as well. **

**XXXevilgrinXXX – "smut-puppy women" – Ha. I love. And yes, the baking must be kept to a minimum and absolutely no knitting. twitch **

**buecha – Yes yes, there are always more chapters. **

**bebe – We all feel that way. **

**unknown – it seems that the one-shot thing works really well. Don't quite understand why, but clearly it does. **

**NightmareWeaver – You're alive! Yeah, review buttons are bitches. They're never pressed when you want them to be pressed and then half the time you press them, they don't work! Gah, that sounded…sketchy at beast. Sorry about the late update!**

**AliasSpyCrazy – Yeah, I'm something of an insomniac so a lot of what I read takes on a new meaning on an ENTIRELY different level. Stupid Tyler indeed. We'll see if he comes back. **

**tamekabu – Yeah, but just because Tyler's an ass doesn't mean Jack wants him dead. Yes, but he was a coward and she would like him less for that. **

**BatPhace – Can _you_ tell me why the short stories/one-shots work so well?**

**TrunksgirlBlace27 – No one messes with Jack and gets away with it. Clearly. **

**lamyka – Defying laws that don't exist are always fun, but so are breaking laws that do exist. Sadly, I do this mostly daily. Hope you liked this update. **


End file.
